HT Omega Striker 7.1

Pros: better than onboard audio, no driver issues unlike many other cards at this price, front panel support

Cons: only 16 bit 48 kHz - severely overpriced

When I built my computer about a year ago I really only got it so I wouldn't have to use onboard audio, which is never very good. I figured that for the price it wouldn't be too bad, but I was curious as to why the technical specs were nowhere to be found; now I know...This card is only capable of 16 bit 48 kHz playback; but HT Omega hides this fact, I searched for a while with no success... It is not by any means a terrible card, the sound is decent, but for the price there are MUCH better cards. The retail price is $89, but for under $30 you can get a card that will do 24, 96.

Overall the card itself is not bad really, but it should be much much cheaper.

In fact large containers contain spectral padding that can hold supersonic frequencies which interfere with audible ones, (intermodulation) making anything higher than 48 undesirable. 48 denotes the highest frequency the container can hold, divide the number in half to get the Khz measure. 24 Khz, then is the highest 48 can hold, and is higher than anyone can hear. Humans can generally only hear to 22 Khz if they have VERY good hearing extension anyway, so 41 is a better choice, for smaller file size, and the fact most won't hear any difference. Bit depth is a bit less clear though, audibly it's going to control the patterning in very low level noise, which is going to be impossible to hear in most recordings. Then again dithered 16 bit is less accurate, so it's not as clear cut.

I agree with these guys, you should never use a resolution beyond 48 KHz, and bit-depth makes a very very miniscule change to the sound. I can't hear a difference between 16 and 24. I HAVE heard a very slight difference from 16 to 32-bit float, but very few cards/DACs support that, and it's such a small difference that it's not worth it.